All photos of the Brewers' final 2010 home game available on Flickr.
As the regular season draws to a close, it's time to tie up some loose ends and cover all of the stories I didn't get a chance to write about this year.
- One night when watching the news at my girlfriend's house in Madison this summer, I saw scores for the "Home Talent League" scrolling across the bottom during the sports report. The teams were all playing in small towns in the south-central Wisconsin area, primarily in Dane County. Was this an independent league I'd never heard of? I did some research and discovered it was an adult amateur baseball league founded in 1929. From what I can tell, it's almost akin to a softball or bowling league. Players pay league dues rather than receive any salary and there are tryouts annually for the now 44-team league. Since teams seem to play at local ballfields and county parks it might not be worth "ranking" these fields on this blog but I sure do hope to get to one of these games next season to see some old guys duke it out for the love of the game.
- There were no first-ballot Hall-of-Famers in this year's class, as Andre Dawson was the lone inductee. That might not be the case in upcoming years as there are many big names approaching their eligibility. The next 5 years alone could see Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina, Randy Johnson, and Ken Griffey Jr all welcomed into Coooperstown. The big year to keep an eye on is 2015, because there is a lot of talk that Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux will intentionally not be voted in in '14 so that they could go in together with John Smoltz the following year. All 3 were long-time, Cy Young award winning members of the great Braves teams of the '90s. An induction ceremony is definitely on our list and that would certainly be an awesome year to go. Although it dates myself, it's great to start seeing players I grew up watching getting inducted into the Hall, starting with Ripken and Gwynn 3 years ago.- In July, there was a vendor inspection report released by ESPN. In it, it very simply lists every team in the 4 major sports and how they faired on their most recent health inspections. The results were given as a percentage of vendors with "critical violations" and listed some of the most heinous for each team. The results were staggering to me, as only the Cubs and White Sox reported no health code violations - this probably speaks to a stricter health code in Chicago. Back home, Miller Park reported that 33% of its vendors had a "critical violation" and that "mold was growing near ice machines in 6 locations." All 3 of the Tampa area's sports venues had at least 75% of its vendors having violations, with the Trop astonishingly having all 100% of its vendors reporting a violation. It's worth noting that Angel Stadium, where Erik and I were told not to eat certain foods in 2007 because of rat infestation, showed an improvement to 12% violations in this study. It's also worth noting that all 30 MLB stadiums passed basic health inspections and standard levels of cleanliness which allowed them to operate despite having violations. I personally don't want to know what is in most of my food as long as it tastes good, let alone ballpark fare, but it's just something interesting to think about.
- A couple notable stories off of Ballpark Digest. The Phillies are now making it possible to order food using an app on your iPhone and having delivered to your seat in 30 minutes or less. Also, the Rays and Athletics ballpark proposals have gone nowhere for another season. The Rays have been drawing very poorly despite having a very good, young team, and the A's are trying to get rights in the San Jose area (Giants territory) to build a stadium there. On a side note, I encourage anyone who wants to read more about these and other ballpark stories to go to Ballpark Digest's website, as it is a fantastic source of information and is very well written and organized. However, I discourage anyone and everyone from become a fan on Facebook. The guy who writes on that fan page is the most pompus and arrogant jerk I have ever come across in my entire life and it is not worth your time.
- I wrote earlier this month about Trevor Hoffman's 600th career save, and I mentioned how Ken Macha getting ejected in the 2nd paved the way for the opportunity. What I did not mention in that post was how the umpire had also tossed 3 other people that game, including an apparently rowdy fan in sitting in the front row by the Brewers dugout. Just one other thing to make Trevor's milestone even more memorable - the first fan ejected by an umpire in Miller Park history. Apparently, Yadier Molina was complaining about some of the comments he was making and asked the ump to do something about it. This was not too long after Molina had started a fight with Brandon Phillips of the Reds which led to a bench-clearing brawl. Looks like the Cards finally having an off year has gotten the best of Yadi. - Ending on a lighter note, there was a pretty funny story released a few weeks ago - around the same time as the aforementioned umpire-fan story - about Arizona's Ryan Roberts sleeping in the Aces' clubhouse when he was at AAA Reno this summer. He spent most of the 2009 season with the Diamondbacks and figured to be on the club in 2010. But after buying a new car and signing a lease in Phoenix, he ended up getting beat out by Rusty Ryal for the 25th spot on the roster. After a brief callup in May, his family decided it wasn't worth the hassle of moving back to Reno again. So, with the help of the cleaning crew, he proceded to live for most of the season at the ballpark while his wife and daughter were back in Phoenix.
PS - Cincinnati can clinch the NL Central today with a win over the Astros or a Cardinals loss to Pittsburgh - go Redlegs!
STANDINGS & UPCOMING GAMES AS OF 09.28:
Brewers 73-82, -13.5 (4 @ Mets, 3 @ Reds)
Reds 87-69, +6.0 (3 v. Astros, 3 v. Brewers)
Twins 92-64, AL Central Champs, -1.0 AL Best Record (3 @ Royals, 4 v. Blue Jays)
FINAL 2010 GAMES ATTENDED TOTAL:
Erik - 20
Peter - 52
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.